How to Underline in Google Sheets (In 3 Easy Steps)

It’s common to lose sight of the important numbers when you’re working with a large dataset.

This is where formatting options such as adding background color, changing font size, or text styles come in handy.

Underlining is one such important formatting option that helps you emphasize or highlight certain data to the user, making information stand out in a Google spreadsheet.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to underline in Google Sheets (step-by-step.)

How to Underline the Entire Text in a Cell

The quickest way to underline in Google Sheets is to apply the underline formatting to an entire cell.

Here’s how it works:

1. Select the cell (or cell range) containing the text you want to underline.

2. Click on the format option appearing in the top menu.

3. Click on Text and choose Underline option from the drop-down menu.

That’s it… The above steps will underline the text appearing in the selected cell or cell range.

How to Underline Part of the Text String

If you don’t want to underline the whole cell but only a part of the text string, you can do that as well.

For example, If one of the cells in your sheet contains the text string “Total Value”, you may want to just underline the word “Total” instead of the complete text string.

Here’s how you can do that:

1. Double click on the cell containing the text you want to underline.

2. Select the part of the text that you want to underline.

3. Click on the format option appearing in the top menu.

4. Click on Text and choose Underline option from the drop-down menu items.

That’s it… The above steps will underline the selected text in your cell.

Keyboard Shortcut to Underline in Google Sheets

If you prefer to use shortcut keys instead of pressing the mouse button, there is a keyboard shortcut to underline text in Google Sheets.

All you need to do is select the text (or a cell range), then press Ctrl + U on your keyboard.

The shortcut will instantly underline the selected text or cells.

Underline Cell (or Cell Range) in Google Sheets

There can be times when you want to add an underline to a cell instead of the text string in a cell.

Although there isn’t a straightforward option to add an underline to a cell, you can get a similar underline effect by adding a bottom border to the desired cell.

Here’s how it works:

1. Select the cell or cell range you want to add border (underline effect).

2. Open the Border drop-down menu by clicking on the grid icon in the tool bar.

3. Select Bottom Border option from the drop-down menu.

That’s it… The above steps would add added a bottom border to the cell, which looks as if you have underlined it.

How to Double Underline In Google Sheets

Double Underlining is another option to highlight the most important data.

To add a double underline, simply select the desired cell >> click on border icon in toolbar >> select bottom border.

Once you have selected the bottom border, click on the border style icon and choose double border (appearing at bottom of drop-down options)

Final Thought on Underlining in Google Sheets:

Underlining is definitely a great way to draw extra attention to specific words or numbers in your spreadsheet.

I have tried to share all the possible ways to underline text or cells in Google Sheets.

Did you find this tutorial useful? Let me know in the comments.